NCGA Honors Kelley, Lange and Maguire

The National Cotton Ginners Association (NCGA) honored Richard Kelley, Mark Lange and John Maguire with the association’s top awards during its recent annual meeting.

Kelley, a Burlison, TN, ginner who served as NCGA chairman in 2014, was named the 2014 Horace Hayden National Cotton Ginner of the Year during the organization’s recent annual meeting.

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The award is presented annually to a ginner in recognition of their able, efficient and faithful service to the ginning industry, as well as continuing those principles exemplified and practiced by Horace Hayden, a former NCGA executive secretary.

Kelley is president of Burlison Gin Company, Kelcot Cotton Warehouse and Kelley Enterprises – a 20,000-acre farm, much of which is devoted to cotton. He has served as a director of the National Cotton Council and is currently on the board of Cotton Council International. He is a past president of the Southern Cotton Ginners Association and was named the 2013 Southern Cotton Ginner of the Year.

In making the award announcement, outgoing NCGA President Dwayne Alford said Kelley is noted for his talent for engineering and building. He said Kelley “is always trying to make improvements – even on new equipment,” including several modernizations he made to a gin he purchased in 1989.

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Lange, NCC president and CEO, and Maguire, NCC senior vice president of Washington Operations, were named as co-recipients of NCGA’s 2014-15 Distinguished Service Award, which honors those who have provided a career of distinguished service to the U.S. ginning industry.

Lange and Maguire are both retiring at the end of February.

Lange, who has been in his present post since 2003, has played a pivotal role in guiding the U.S. cotton industry’s seven segments to reach consensus on critical policies affecting U.S. cotton. He joined NCC in 1990 as its director of Economic and Information Services.

Maguire – who has worked for the NCC for more than three decades and in his current post since 2003 – has coordinated the NCC’s Washington activities, including Congressional relations and working with Administration officials. He has been actively involved in policy development and implementation activities.

“When you consider the many times that they (Lange and Maguire) fought for us when the cotton program was under attack,” Alford said, “or the many budget and appropriations battles that have included the fate of programs important to cotton, plus the WTO and the Brazil case, there was no better choice.”

The NCGA also elected its 2015 officers during the annual meeting. Elected were Levin Lynch, Bennettsville, SC, president; Ron Craft, Plains, TX, first vice president; David Blakemore, Campbell, MO, second vice president; Stanley Creelman, Tulare, CA, third vice president; and Dwayne Alford, Yuma, AZ, chairman.

Harrison Ashley of Cordova, TN, serves as NCGA’s executive vice president.

 

Source – National Cotton Council

 

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